‘The Winchesters’ is a Soulless, Bland Attempt at Recapturing ‘Supernatural’ Magic
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Everyone remembers their first CW show. From the many Arrowverse entries to 90210, the network has long offered an array of content for every kind of teen viewer. It’s why shows like One Tree Hill and Gilmore Girls, classics from the CW predecessor the WB, could sidle up right next to supernatural-tinged teen dramas, like The Vampire Diaries and, well, Supernatural.
The CW boasts other defining traits too. To some, the network’s shows are known to be “so bad, they’re good” (see: Riverdale). Sometimes, the CW is recognized for hosting shows that can cultivate a cult following, the kind that takes over Tumblr and eventually creates a horde of theories, ships, and fan fictions. (Supernatural is a huge one.) Across the board, the CW’s series are considered to have maximum “bingeability,” which may be a term for the streaming era but definitely applies to any number of seven-season, 22-episode WB or CW shows. You could probably get through all 217 episodes of Smallville in a few days and not even realize it.
Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester.
But the real hallmark of a good CW series is its charisma. Yes, even when the characters spew bad dialogue before engaging in terrible fight choreography or dramatic confrontations, the best CW shows have a sense of charm that’s impossible to look away from.
All of this is why there’s so much riding on the CW’s Supernatural prequel series, The Winchesters. It has a built-in fanbase, thanks to the Supernatural connection. It delves deeper into established lore that viewers already are familiar with and excited about. And it’s a chance for the CW to find another hit during a time when it could really use one.
From the premiere alone, though, it’s quite clear that The Winchesters lacks what made Supernatural exciting and other CW programs watchable: that iconic charisma. Without it, The Winchesters is an incredibly boring, lifeless prequel that’s unsure about who its audience is or even why it exists. It’s not so bad, it’s good; it’s not bingeable. Instead, The Winchesters is just… there.
Set in the 1970s (although the time period’s fashion, vernacular, or culture barely appear), the show follows Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) Winchester’s parents, John (Drake Rodger) and Mary (Meg Donnelly), who meet, fall in love, and fight monsters while searching for their missing fathers. At first, it seems like a pretty safe attempt at a spinoff, but Supernatural fans might be a bit confused about the show’s story. (So was Jared Padalecki, who had no idea the spinoff was even happening). The original show covered most of John and Mary’s life before they had Dean and Sam, so what could The Winchesters add to their story?
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The pilot mostly follows Mary, an experienced hunter, as she searches for her missing father and a mysterious box he was after. John, on the other hand, has just gotten back from the Vietnam War (which he chose to enlist in on his own, by the way!). He quickly receives a letter that might help him track down his father, who’s been missing for 15 years.
Trauma-bonding over daddy issues is about the most interesting thing that happens between these two for the entire 42-minute episode. John and Mary, despite being conventionally attractive, lack any chemistry or energy. The same goes for Mary’s hunter friends Carlos (Jojo Fleites) and Latika (Nida Khurshid), who come along for the ride as her two sidekicks. Carlos occasionally interjects some flamboyant sass, and Latika is relatively bookish and nerdy. All in all, no one’s breaking through their surface-level character traits to reveal more layers any time soon.
There are some attempts at interpersonal drama in the premiere—the most notable being a scene between Carlos and Latika, where the two discuss Carlos’ attraction to Mary. It sets up the potential for a love triangle between Mary, John, and Carlos, but the show doesn’t give us any reason to believe that would be at all juicy to watch.
Teasing us to want more is something the original Supernatural never struggled with. The show ran for 15 seasons and over 300 episodes—more than any CW show by far. It had demons, monsters, angels, deaths, resurrections, vampires, and a final season that involved a battle with God himself. It was a heck of a show, a jam-packed journey that somehow balanced monster-of-the-week episodes with larger, complex seasonal and multi-seasonal arcs.
Drake Rodger as John and Meg Donnelly as Mary.
With any show of this nature, the mythology and lore can become quite difficult to keep track of. But of the endless plot threads following monster-hunting brothers Dean and Sam, their parents’ story had always been quite clear. We were told that John knew nothing about monsters before Mary was killed by a demon, prompting him to train himself and his sons to combat forces of darkness. And even with memory wiping, deaths, resurrections, and time travel, how John and Mary met, and the role that hunting monsters played in their lives, was always quite clear.
The Winchesters retcons that story in the first few minutes of its premiere, featuring narration from Dean, who’s on the road searching for clues about his parents’ life. Why he needs to search for clues, or even when this happens in his life, isn’t clear. In the finale of Supernatural, Dean died rather unremarkably during a vampire hunt, crossing over to Heaven while Sam lives to old age. But before we can start asking questions, Dean seems to give a blanket statement that also justifies The Winchesters’ existence, explaining, “Now, I know this story might sound familiar, but I’m going to put the pieces together in a way that just might surprise you.”
Surprise or confusion? For Supernatural fans, it’s probably the latter. If the goal is to spin off Supernatural into more monster adventures, the original show featured plenty of opportunities for backdoor pilots. Why rewrite John and Mary’s story instead of going after Wayward Sisters or trying something similar to the beloved episode “Bloodlines?” The answer is unclear, but the result isn’t: This is a premise that’s already turned off fans who appreciate Supernatural’s detailed lore.
If The Winchesters is rewriting Supernatural’s mythology, perhaps it’s to entice new viewers. But if that were the case, you’d expect more of the usual CW flair and camp that audiences love or love to hate. Unfortunately, those vibes are sorely missed, too. Where are the theatrics, running gags, and corny jokes? Where is the general sense of amusement and fun? Even at its darkest moments, Supernatural took a step back and remembered how to entertain us.
Meg Donnelly as Mary, Jojo Fleites as Carlos, and Nida Khurshid as Latika.
That tonal reset often came courtesy of fun, fast-paced monster-hunting. The Winchesters hardly borrows that beloved convention, save for a scene or two with some exorcisms set to generic classic rock. That all leads to the pilot’s final 20 minutes, which attempt some sort of emotional climax without any build-up. As the four characters get together to find the mysterious demon box that Mary’s dad was searching for, a confrontation with a monster puts John and Mary in a hairy situation. John attempts to sacrifice himself for her, a beat the show should be able to nail, especially given that John, Mary, and their relationship already have so much history in Supernatural.
Instead, it falls flat. Our history with John and Mary can’t fix how hollow The Winchesters renders them. If any fans do tune in, they won’t recognize what—or who—they’re watching. And for curious newcomers, it’ll be difficult to remember much about these one-dimensional characters once the credits roll. It all puts Dean’s opening narration into better perspective: “Now, I know this story might sound familiar, but I’m going to put the pieces together in a way that just might surprise you.”
Surprise us with boredom? Sadly, that seems to be the case.
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